I. He heartily thanks the Emperor for
what he has done, and asks him to complete the work in any way he
can.

If we should seek to reward your Majesty’s
glorious resolution in defence of the Faith with all the praise that
the greatness of the issue demands, we should be found unequal to the
task of giving thanks and celebrating the joy of the universal Church
with our feeble tongue. But His worthier recompense awaits your
acts and deserts, in whose cause you have shown so excellent a zeal,
and are now triumphing gloriously over the attainment of the wished-for
end. Your clemency must know therefore that all the churches of
God join in praising you and rejoicing that
the unholy parricide has been cast off from the neck of the Alexandrine
church, and that God’s people, on whom
the abominable robber has been so great a burden, restored to the
ancient liberty of the Faith, can now be recalled into the way of
salvation by the preaching of faithful priests, when it sees the whole
hotbed of pestilence done away with in the person of the originator
himself. Now therefore, because you have accomplished this by
firm resolution and stedfast will, complete your tale of work for the
Faith by passing such decrees as shall be well-pleasing to God in favour of this city’s catholic ruler634634 This is another
Timothy surnamed Solophaciolus, supposed to be the same as that
Timotheos presbyter et œconomus Ecclesiæ, mentioned
among the Egyptian refugees who petitioned the Emperor against
Ælurus., who is tainted by no trace of the
heresy
113now so often
condemned: lest, perchance, the wound apparently healed but still
lurking beneath the scar should grow, and the Christian laity, which by
your public action has been freed from the perversity of heretics,
should again fall a prey to deadly poison.

II. Good works as well as integrity of
faith is required in a priest.

But you see, venerable Emperor, and clearly
understand, that in the person, whose excommunication is contemplated,
it is not only the integrity of his faith that must be considered; for
even if that could be purged by any punishments and confessions, and
completely restored by any conditions, yet the wicked and bloody deeds
that have been committed can never be done away by the protestations of
plausible words: because in God’s
pontiff, and particularly in the priest of so great a church, the sound
of the tongue and the utterance of the lips is not enough, and nothing
is of avail, if God makes proclamation with
His voice and the mind is convicted of blasphemy. For of such the
Holy Ghost speaks by the Apostle, “having an appearance of
godliness, but denying the power thereof,” and again elsewhere,
“they profess that they know God, but in
deeds they deny Him6356352
Tim. iii. 5, and Tit. i. 16..” And
hence, since in every member of the Church both the integrity of the
true Faith and abundance of good works is looked for, how much more
ought both these things to predominate in the chief pontiff, because
the one without the other cannot be in union with the Body of
Christ.

III. Timothy’s request for
indulgence on the score of orthodoxy must not be
allowed.

Nor need we now state all that makes Timothy
accursed, since what has been done through him and on his account, has
abundantly and conspicuously come to the knowledge of the whole world,
and whatever has been perpetrated by an unruly mob against justice, all
rests on his head, whose wishes were served by its mad hands. And
hence, even if in his profession of faith he neglects nothing, and
deceives us in nothing, it best consorts with your glory absolutely to
exclude him from this design of his636636 Apparently to be
allowed to reside in Constantinople (or perhaps at this stage to remain
in Alexandria)., because in
the bishop of so great a city the universal Church ought to rejoice
with holy exultation, so that the true peace of the Lord may be glorified not only by the preaching of the
Faith, but also by the example of men’s conduct. Dated 17th
of June, in the consulship of Magnus and Apollonius (460). (By
the hand of Philoxenus agens in rebus637637 See Lett. CLXII. n.
2a..)

634 This is another
Timothy surnamed Solophaciolus, supposed to be the same as that
Timotheos presbyter et œconomus Ecclesiæ, mentioned
among the Egyptian refugees who petitioned the Emperor against
Ælurus.